System and method fo producing and processing messages in automation systems

ABSTRACT

A system and a method transmit and process messages, in terms of the automation of a production plant. The messages are sent from the automation appliances to an internet message server by a data transmission system in the form of the Internet or an Intranet. The Internet message server serves the receiver and the distributor of the messages. The actual addressee of the message is determined on the server by distribution lists, and the message is forwarded to the addressees, directly or by a processing unit which adds further information to the message. The messages are stored in baskets and can be buffered. A confirmation message can be sent from the addressees to the automation appliance.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is based on and hereby claims priority to PCTApplication No. PCT/DE2003/002068 filed on Jun. 20, 2003 and GermanApplication No. 102 29 637.5 filed on Jul. 2, 2002, the contents ofwhich are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a system and a method for producing and/orprocessing a message from a control apparatus and/or from an automationappliance via the intranet and/or the Internet.

In production plants, the automation appliances, i.e. the controlapparatuses and the automation appliances, produce, during operation,messages which are sent either to human users or to other apparatuseswhich are present in the systems. The messages produced by theautomation appliances may be either alarms triggered in the event ofplant faults or messages which are produced during normal plantoperation. These may be, by way of example, the cyclic reporting ofprocess data for trend analyses. Depending on the addressee of themessage, it is necessary to add additional information to the respectivemessage before forwarding to the addressee. This additional informationmay be, by way of example, texts which are added to a message number.The messages are normally not sent unidirectionally from the sender toan addressee; rather, in contrast, the message receiver returns aresponse in the form of an acknowledgement to the message sender. Today,the messages from the automation appliances are commonly processed usingoperating and observation systems. Within the systems, there are“message servers” which receive the message and provide it withadditional information and possibly forward it to an addressee. In thiscontext, exclusively plant-internal access to the transmitted messagesis possible.

DE 198 37 650 A1 discloses a system, a method and a control apparatusfor producing a message as an e-mail via the Internet or intranet. Inthis context, the e-mail is provided with an address and is sentdirectly to the receiver.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One aspect of the invention is based on the object of specifying asystem and a method which easily produce and process a message from acontrol apparatus or from an automation appliance.

This object may be achieved by a system for producing and/or processinga message from a control apparatus and/or from an automation appliancevia a data transmission system to a reception apparatus which can becoupled to the data transmission system, the reception apparatus has areceiver the message sent by the control apparatus and/or by theautomation appliance, which system is characterized in that thereception apparatus is in the form of a message server and in that themessage server is provided for receiving messages from all controlapparatuses and/or automation appliances which are present in thesystem.

The inventor realized that it is increasingly important to processmessages which are produced by automation appliances in plants using asystem which is as universal as possible and acts as a message server.Such a universal system for holding and forwarding messages requires nospecial alignment of the interfaces, as is still necessary today in theoperating and observation systems used, when units for processing themessages further are connected. In addition, the system provides theopportunity for all control apparatuses which are present in the systemto send their messages to one message server. This greatly simplifiesthe processing of the messages and also the configuration of theautomation appliances, since an automation appliance only ever sends itsmessages to just one message server and also receives the responses fromthis server. Complex addressing of the messages is not necessary. Theuse of one message server to process automation messages thus results inan improvement both in plant operation and in the configuration of theplant.

One advantageous form is characterized in that the data transmissionsystem provided is an intranet and/or an Internet. If, in addition to auniversal message server, an intranet or an Internet is used forreceiving and forwarding messages for data transmission, then a user ofa plant is also able to access the messages remotely via the network,particularly the Internet. Remote integration regarding process valuesor obtaining information in the event of a plant fault where an alarm isreported would be possible for a production supervisor or servicetechnician who is not on site. The use of the intranet or Internet savescosts and increases flexibility.

A further advantageous form is characterized in that the message serveris in the form of an Internet message server. This allows the server tobe installed at any point in the network and, in addition an Internetmessage server requires no special protocol, but rather can use thestandard Internet protocol when handling the messages.

A further advantageous form is characterized in that the Internetmessage server is in the form of an e-mail server for asynchronousinterchange of messages. The messages sent by the automation appliancesare automatically buffered on the server in an in-tray until they can besent to the actual addressee or can be fetched by him. The addressees donot need to be permanently connected to the message server by the buffersystem via a data link. Rather, the messages can be fetched from theserver at any time. This is also advantageous particularly if anaddressee is in an operative state. In this case, the message is notlost but rather is provided in the server's mail tray until the datalink is restored or the message receiver is present in the system again.This prevents loss of messages.

A further advantageous form is characterized in that the Internetmessage server is in the form of an instant message system forsynchronous interchange of messages. In the case of this form, themessages can also be interchanged approximately synchronously betweenthe automation appliances and the receivers. In the case of messageswith critical timing, this is advantageous, since there is no delay tothe forwarding of the message as a result of buffer-storage in a mailtray on the server.

A further advantageous form of the invention is characterized in thatthe messages are assigned to at least one addressee are provided. Inthis context, the messages which have been received on the messageserver from the automation appliances are assigned to the respectiveintended addressees using a distribution list on the basis of keys whichare appended to the messages. The particular advantage of the centralstorage of the distribution lists on the server is that the distributionlists can easily be maintained centrally. The automation appliances donot need to be informed of any additional information about newly addedmessage receivers or new addresses of receivers via a configurationinterface. The automation appliances only ever send their messages toone address, namely the server, on which the messages are then placedinto the appropriate outgoing mailboxes for the addressees. Instead ofupdating the addresses on each automation appliance involved, only thedistribution list stored on the server needs to be updated in the eventof alteration of the addressees. Complex and time-intensiveconfiguration work is thus dispensed with.

A further advantageous form is characterized in that the controlapparatus and/or the automation appliance has means for receiving aconfirmation message which is returned from the reception apparatus tothe control apparatus and/or to the automation appliance and anacknowledgment unit to automatically mark a message as acknowledged.This means that the sender can be notified that the message sent hasactually reached the intended receiver. In addition, the sender canconfirm that he has taken note by an acknowledgement. The opportunity toset up such a feedback process in the system simplifies the handling ofmessage transmission, since the individual appliances involved areinformed about the respective status. In addition, it becomes possibleto document the information transmission between the appliancesinvolved. Such a feedback process thus simplifies the correct handlingof the communication between the appliances.

A further advantageous form is characterized in that an appending unitprocesses a message by adding further information can be coupled to themessage server. A large portion of the messages received normallyrequires further processing, i.e. texts or additional information is/areadded to the messages. Complex further processing operations may also beperformed on the messages, these possibly involving, by way of example,the processing unit using an error tree to ascertain the cause of errorfor a fault signal and forwarding the cause of error in text form to aservice technician.

A further advantageous form is characterized in that the appending unitis identified using mailboxes and/or message channels. The advantage ofthe inventive form is that no special alignments on the interfaces or onthe data transmission systems need to be made between the message serverand the units for further processing. Any processing units which are onthe market and which use standard e-mail or standard instant messaginginterfaces can be coupled to the Internet message server. Complexprogramming of specific interfaces is dispensed with.

A further advantageous form is characterized in that the appending unitforwards the message to a person and/or to further apparatuses which arepresent in the system. In this way, it is possible, by way of example,for a service engineer or a user of the plant to be informed aboutspecific alarm or fault signals which have been provided with additionalinformation. The precise cause of error can be communicated to theservice engineer using the additional information and can also beforwarded to him at the same time by the processing unit. However, thisform also affords the opportunity to send, by way of example, processdata to a system for historical data management which collects theprocess values from all automation appliances involved in the system,archives them and possibly even evaluates them statistically. In thesystem, the messages can be accessed using the normal interfaces, thatis to say either by humans using e-mail or messenger clients or bymachines. The most universal supply of information possible is ensuredin this case.

A further advantageous form is characterized in that the person and/oran apparatus sends a message response and/or acknowledgement to amessage to the control apparatus and/or to the automation appliance. Theadvantage in this context is that the final receiver is put into aposition to confirm receipt of the message independently, either as aperson or as an apparatus in the system. It is thus merely necessary toconfirm when confirmation of receipt is actually necessary. Superfluousconfirmations are unnecessary, which results in a reduction in the flowof data in the system's network. The response by the person or theapparatus can be processed by the coupled processing units, like themessage. The automation appliance thus receives specific feedbackrelating to its original message.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention willbecome more apparent and more readily appreciated from the followingdescription of the preferred embodiments, taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 shows a schematic illustration of an exemplary embodiment of thesystem for producing and processing a message from an automationappliance via an intranet or Internet using an Internet message server.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of thepresent invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elementsthroughout.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic illustration of an exemplary embodiment 17 forproducing and processing a message 3, the message 3 being sent via adata transmission system 4 to the Internet message server 2, whichserves as a reception apparatus. In this context, the data transmissionsystem 4 is in the form of an intranet or Internet 5. The Internetmessage server 2 has a mail in-tray 14 which receives the messages. Theintranet message server 2 also has “distribution lists” 12 which areused to assign the received messages to the addressees 13. The intranetmessage server 2 has processing units 7 coupled to it which are able toreceive messages 3 for further processing. The processing devices 7 haveappending units 8 which can be used to add additional information to themessages 3. The processed information can then be forwarded via theintranet message server 2 to further receivers, which may be eitherpeople 10 or apparatuses 11 which are present in the system 17, usingunit 9 for forwarding. Using device 15, a message response oracknowledgment 6 is sent to the automation appliance 1, from either aperson 10 or an apparatus 11.

The particular feature of the system 17 shown in FIG. 1 is, essentially,that all automation appliances or controllers 1 which are present in thesystem 17 send their messages to one Internet message server 2centrally. The use of the Internet or intranet 5 for data transmission,that is to say sending the messages 3, means that there is no need forcomplex programming of specific interfaces, as is currently the normwhen using an operating and observation appliance as a reception unit 2for messages. In addition, the use of a universal Internet messageserver 2 allows a practice in which all automation appliances 1 involvedare always able to send their messages to the same addressee, namely theintranet message server 2, without further indication of addresses.Complex configuration in the event of an address change or a change todistribution lists 12 on the individual automation appliances 1 isdispensed with. All in all, the system 17 described in FIG. 1 allowsgreat simplification and improvement of the sending and processing ofmessages 3 at the automation level in plants.

The use of the Internet or intranet 5 also permits authorized partiesinvolved to access the messages from outside of the system 17. This isadvantageous particularly when handling an alarm signal, since a servicetechnician, who may not be directly at the plant, is informed about thecondition by normal e-mails and learns about alarms. The servicetechnician can sometimes perform a diagnosis directly from a distanceusing the information with which he has been provided in the message,and may issue appropriate instructions to the personnel who are presentat the plant. The use of the system 17 means that expert knowledge doesnot need to be available directly on site at all times. Remoterequesting of process values via Internet and e-mail is also possible inthis way, which ensures overview and control of the production cyclesfrom outside of the plant.

The use of the Internet message server 2 as an e-mail server allows thereceived messages 3 to be buffered a mail tray 14 until the addresseesfetch their messages 3. This is beneficial particularly in the case ofmessages 3 which are intended for people who are able to retrieve thesemessages 3 easily and at any time via an e-mail client. Anotheradvantage, however, is that messages can be buffered for furtherapparatuses 11 or for processing units 7 until the receivers are readyto receive the messages, since this prevents any loss of the receivedmessages in the event of potential failure of one of the units 7 or 11involved. The messages are also assigned at a later time, when thesystems are running again.

The exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is also advantageouslydistinguished by virtue of the distribution lists 12 for the individualaddressees 13 being located centrally on the universal Internet messageserver 2 and thus also being able to be maintained and managedcentrally. Complex maintenance of individual distribution address listson the automation appliances 1 involved, which would need to beperformed for the respective individual automation appliance 1, is notnecessary. The distribution list 12 is used to distribute the messages 3to the addressees 13. Within the Internet message server, the messagesare then put into the mail trays 14 assigned to the addressees 13. Fromthese mail trays 14, the messages can be fetched the processing units 7further or by people 10 or by further apparatuses 11 in the system 17.When the message has been processed or when the message 3 has beenreceived, confirmation responses or acknowledgements 6 can be returnedvia the Internet message server 2 and the Internet 5 to the automationappliance 1 which originally generated a message 3. The option foracknowledgement means that the automation appliance 1 knows that itsmessage has reached its receiver and that it does not need to store themessage further or to send it again.

Another advantage in the exemplary embodiment shown is that furtherunits 7 for processing the messages 3 further are coupled to theInternet message server 2. In these processing units, the messages 3 canhave further information 8 added to them which is then returned via aforwarding apparatus 9 to the Internet message server 2 and may beforwarded from there to an addressee. The processing units 7 allowtexts, for example, to be added to the messages 3. Alternatively,complex handling of the messages 3 is possible, this involving, by wayof example, a key which is appended to the message 3, particularly to afault signal, being taken as a basis for searching for a cause of errorwhich can be associated with the fault signal within an error tree orusing another search scheme, and the cause of error being able to beappended to the message. The message 3 provided with this informationcan then be forwarded to a service technician or to a servicing systemon the plant. Altogether, the processing units 7 can provide importantadditional information 8 which simplifies the interpretation of themessages 3 and thus increases their value. This information 8 cannotreadily be added to the messages 3 by an automation appliance 1 withlittle complexity. People 10 or else apparatuses 11 such as plantinformation systems, which record a history of the process data andevaluate the data statistically, or plant servicing systems, whichautomatically generate servicing orders, benefit from these messages 3provided with additional information 8. The use of the Internet messageserver 2 with the opportunity to connect processing units 7 improves thequality of the messages 3 overall. Personal forwarding by a user of anoperating and observation appliance is not necessary in this case, sincethe message 3 is forwarded automatically. However, a user of the plantcan use an e-mail client 15 at any time to view the messages 3 handledvia the Internet message server 2 and to download the appropriate data,for example process values.

The use of an Internet message server 2 also allows further such serversto be coupled in the system 17 as desired, the servers being able to bepositioned centrally on a plant or in a computer center or else locallyat arbitrary locations with Internet access. This means that there iscentral processing of large volumes of data using a single system 17comprising a plurality of modules.

In summary, a system 17 and a method send and process messages 3 at theautomation level in the production plant. The messages are sent from theautomation appliances 1 to an Internet message server 2 via a datatransmission system 4, which is in the form of an Internet or intranet5. The Internet message server serves receiver and distributor of themessages 3. On the server 2, distribution lists 12 are used to ascertainthe actual addressee 13 of the message 3, and the message 3 is forwardedto the addressee 11, 15 directly or via a processing unit 7, which addsfurther information 8 to the message 3. The messages 3 are stored inmail trays 14 and can be buffered. The addressee is able to send aconfirmation message 6 to the automation appliance 1.

The invention has been described in detail with particular reference topreferred embodiments thereof and examples, but it will be understoodthat variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit andscope of the invention.

1-22. (canceled)
 23. A system for producing and/or processing a message,comprising: a plurality of control and/or an automation apparatuses tosend messages; a data transmission system to transmit the messages; anda message server coupled to the data transmission system to receive themessages sent by the control and/or automation apparatuses, the messageserver being provided for receiving messages from all control and/orautomation apparatuses of the system.
 24. The system as claimed in claim23, wherein the data transmission system comprises an intranet and/or anInternet.
 25. The system as claimed in claim 23, wherein the messageserver is an Internet message server.
 26. The system as claimed in claim25, wherein the Internet message server is an e-mail server forasynchronous interchange of messages.
 27. The system as claimed in claim25, wherein the Internet message server is in the form of an instantmessaging system for synchronous interchange of messages.
 28. The systemas claimed in claim 23, further comprising an address unit to assign themessages to at least one addressee.
 29. The system as claimed in claim23, wherein the control and/or the automation apparatuses have areceiver to receive a confirmation message which is returned from themessage server, and the control and/or automation apparatuses have anacknowledgment unit to automatically mark a message as acknowledged. 30.The system as claimed in claim 25, further comprising an appending unitto process the messages by adding further information to the messages,the appending unit being coupled to the Internet message server.
 31. Thesystem as claimed in claim 30, wherein the appending unit is identifiedby the message server using mailboxes and/or message channels.
 32. Thesystem as claimed in claim 30, wherein the appending unit forwards themessage to a person and/or to further an apparatus present in thesystem.
 33. The system as claimed in claim 32, wherein the person and/oran apparatus sends a message response and/or acknowledgement to thecontrol and/or automation apparatus regarding the message forwarded bythe appending unit.
 34. The system as claimed in claim 24, wherein themessage server is an Internet message server.
 35. The system as claimedin claim 34, further comprising an address unit to assign the messagesto at least one addressee.
 36. The system as claimed in claim 35,wherein the control and/or the automation apparatuses have a receiver toreceive a confirmation message which is returned from the messageserver, and the control and/or automation apparatuses have anacknowledgment unit to automatically mark a message as acknowledged. 37.The system as claimed in claim 36, further comprising an appending unitto process the messages by adding further information to the messages,the appending unit being coupled to the Internet message server.
 38. Thesystem as claimed in claim 37, wherein the appending unit is identifiedby the message server using mailboxes and/or message channels.
 39. Thesystem as claimed in claim 38, wherein the appending unit forwards themessage to a person and/or to further an apparatus present in thesystem.
 40. The system as claimed in claim 39, wherein the person and/oran apparatus sends a message response and/or acknowledgement to thecontrol and/or automation apparatus regarding the message forwarded bythe appending unit.
 41. A method for processing messages, comprising:sending messages from a plurality of control and/or automationapparatuses within a plant via a data transmission system; receiving ata central message server the messages from all of the plurality ofcontrol and/or automation apparatuses within the plant, the messageserver being coupled to the data transmission system.
 42. The method asclaimed in claim 41, wherein the messages are transmitted via anintranet and/or an Internet as the data transmission system.
 43. Themethod as claimed in claim 41, wherein the the central message server isan Internet message server.
 44. The method as claimed in claim 43,wherein the messages are interchanged asynchronously with the Internetmessage server, and the Internet message server is an e-mail server. 45.The method as claimed in claim 43, wherein the messages are interchangedsynchronously with the Internet message server, and the Internet messageserver is an instant messaging server.
 46. The method as claimed in oneof claims 41, wherein the messages are assigned to at least oneaddressee.
 47. The method as claimed in claim 41, further comprising:returning confirmation messages from the message server to the controland/or automation apparatuses; and acknowledging the confirmationmessages by the control and/or automation apparatuses.
 48. The method asclaimed in claim 41, further comprising processing the messages andadding additional information to the messages.
 49. The method as claimedin claim 48, wherein an appending unit processes and adds additionalinformation to the messages, and the message server identifies theappending unit using a mailbox and/or a message channel.
 50. The methodas claimed in claim 41, further comprising forwarding a message from themessage server to a person and/or to another apparatus in the system.51. The method as claimed in claim 41, wherein the person and/or otherapparatus sends a, message response and/or an acknowledgement to thecontrol and/or automation apparatus that originally sent the message.52. The method as claimed in claim 42, wherein the the central messageserver is an Internet message server.
 53. The method as claimed in oneof claims 52, wherein the messages are assigned to at least oneaddressee.
 54. The method as claimed in claim 53, further comprising:returning confirmation messages from the message server to the controland/or automation apparatuses; and acknowledging the confirmationmessages by the control and/or automation apparatuses.
 55. The method asclaimed in claim 54, further comprising processing the messages andadding additional information to the messages.
 56. The method as claimedin claim 55, wherein an appending unit processes and adds additionalinformation to the messages, and the message server identifies theappending unit using a mailbox and/or a message channel.
 57. The methodas claimed in claim 56, further comprising forwarding a message from themessage server to a person and/or to another apparatus in the system.58. The method as claimed in claim 57, wherein the person and/or otherapparatus sends a message response and/or an acknowledgement to thecontrol and/or automation apparatus that originally sent the message.